Rose’s playlist has a lot of really cute, warm fuzzy type songs, mixed in with some sassier bops both of which are extremely hard not to sing along to.
Her playlist isn’t as long as her uncles, but it’s been catching up while I’ve been editing and re-reading book two.
Not the Girl by Annabel Gutherz is such a fun song. I fell in love with it instantly, and Annabel is an incredibly sweet, human so I highly recommend checking out the rest of her music! This song specifically made me think of Rose and Thompson haha.
Rose is such an adorable bean. The song Eighteen makes me cry, but I also love that it’s on her playlist.
I haven’t shared music from my characters playlists in a couple of months, and thought January would be the perfect time to start. I’m constantly adding new songs to these, and occasionally listen to them while I write.
Most of the scenes that I write with music happen to be Roland’s, so his playlist is the longest out of everyone’s. The first song is by a band I used to listen to a lot when I was younger. I started teaching myself one of their songs on the guitar the other day after it popped into my head, and then I went and found the album.
I hope none of the songs provide any series spoilers (they shouldn’t), but I do hope you find one to add to your own playlists.
I’ve written a lot of scenes with Roland to this cover by Chase Holfelder. I highly recommend checking out his music on YouTube, he’s got a lovely voice and his arrangements are really nice.
Roland’s got one of the moodier playlists, but it’s also one that I like to listen to in my free time, or when I’m just hanging out. I’ve found a lot of really beautiful songs while writing this series. Try to Change is probably one of my favourites that I’ve come across while creating this series.
I think this quote would make for a really good song title. Not sure why, but it makes me picture a mid-2000s pop-punk/emo band.
Speaking of songs, I recorded songs featured in The Vermin Series. I had fun incorporating music into the series, and figuring out how each song relates to the world of the series, or characters. It’s hard for me to imagine worlds without music, so I chose to create songs that fit directly into the setting. Some of them are written by the leading characters, while others are popular songs that might be played on the radio, performed in the street or sung by children on the playground.
While writing this series I also created playlists dedicated to each of my characters (even the minor ones) to listen to whenever I needed inspiration or just wanted to get into that characters headspace.
I’ve found a lot of great music while writing this series, and I’m sure I’ll continue to find more as time goes on.
I pulled this song from Roland’s playlist. This is a song I’ve known for a long time now, probably since I first started writing the novel back in high school.
I might record a cover of it…potentially doing a softer version of this because I think it would really suit Roland if it were done that way. Maybe I’ll go do that now?
Okay I’m back!
I had to improvise the chords because I couldn’t find a them listed anywhere, but luckily I’ve known the song for a long time so it wasn’t too difficult to play something that made sense with the lyrics.
Do you associate songs with characters from books (your own, or ones you’re reading) with certain songs?
Right now I’m reading Daughter of Black Lake by one of my favourite authors, Cathy Marie Buchanan and certain songs definitely come to mind when thinking about Young Smith, Devout and Arc. I haven’t thought of a song for Hobble yet, but she’s such a great character. I really like her chapters!
Welcome to the Romantic Vibes playlist. I’m going to try and limit this to only a handful of songs. 5 max. I’ve been trying to think of what songs I wanted to put on this one but I keep finding new ones!
I’m also going to attempt to pick 1 per artist. Sometimes I feel like entire albums suit a particular character haha…but this is a more general playlist for the series as a whole and needs to reflect more than one of my OCs.
#1: Art Class by Beabadoobee
#2: Moon and Back by Alice Kristiansen
#3: I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You by Kina Grannis ft. Imaginary Future
#4: Let Me Love You Like A Woman by Lana Del Rey
#5: Worry by Mother Mother
That’s about all the lovey dovey stuff I can handle today haha.
For today, there are going to be two blog prompts. The first one is a Character Mood Playlist and the second is Thanksgiving themed.
This mood playlist is a “Sad Vibes” playlist. The goal is for me to go through my character’s playlists and find the sad songs on that list that suit them.
This first song is off Darius’ playlist.
#1: Try to Change
Some of these songs you will definitely recognize from some of my Instagram reels and stories featuring my character’s.
#2: Noboby’s Home
This next song is off Charlotte’s list. Charlotte is an original member of the core four. Haha…makes them sound like superheroes. Anyway, I won’t spoil anything more than that.
#3: Take It All Away
This song is on Nicholas’ playlist (the small bean with the pointy teeth). I think it’s actually the saddest song on there. Nicholas is probably one of my favourites to draw. I like drawing his socks. I haven’t done that yet, but he has some really fun socks….
Moving on!
#4: Lonesome Town
This song is off Roland’s playlist. It’s pretty. I tried to learn it on guitar. I’m not the best guitarist though but maybe I’ll record it sometime haha. I can picture Roland singing this to himself at home.
#5: Man on The Mountaintop
This song is from Dianna’s playlist. It’s more upbeat than the previous but still sad nevertheless. I’ve been drawing to it for maybe 11 years now? Which seems extremely weird…but I remember drawing character’s from a book I was writing when I was 13 to this song. Wow time sure flies.
#6: Scenery
For this song I’ll be sharing two versions. The original and a translated cover I did a while back, which Ashmute liked. I still can’t believe they came across my cover haha. Anyway, the song is on Rose’s playlist and is absolutely beautiful.
I wish the sound quality on mine was better but I did it 2 years ago before I had a booth built in my basement…so it’s bedroom quality haha.
Roland’s mother’s character playlist probably has the majority of sad songs. I don’t know why or how this happened but it did. Anyway, his mother went through a recent name change so to keep things simple I’ll call her Roland’s Mom. Our next song is from her playlist.
#7: Secret Door
I absolutely adore Amy Lee’s vocals. This song is so beautiful. On Roland’s Mom’s playlist the song is listed as a song that represents the saddest moment in her life. So yah…there’s that. Scene’s with his mom are probably the hardest for me to write. She makes me cry…no wonder her playlist is so sad.
The next song (if you’ve been watching my reels) you’ve probably heard already.
#8: Baby Boy
This song is shared between Vincent, Roland, Roland’s older brother Lawrence’s playlists. I believe I used it on a reel or story involving a drawing I was doing with Roland. I usually listen to it while I draw him.
#9: Otherside
This song is on Kurtis’ playlist. I enjoy a lot of the songs on his list. It has songs like this and then stuff like My Sharona. Which is weird because Kurtis tends to be very serious.
#10: Forgotten
I’m trying hard to avoid having the same artists on this list but Eloise doesn’t have a lot of sad songs on her list. I’d say this song is more angry than sad…which I think might be a prompt! Oh well.
The next song belongs to her son’s playlist.
#11: My Smile Is Extinct
I love how upbeat this song is despite the lyrics. I honestly feel bad for Thompson sometimes. I really do. Although I occasionally sympathize with all my character’s in some way…even the horrible ones.
#12: I Don’t Care
This song comes from Micah’s playlist. I drew him the other day with his sister and brother. His playlist isn’t very cheery either.
The next song is another repeat artist…apologies.
#13: Words
This song is on Zana’s playlist. It’s the same vibe as Micah’s and directed at the same person…however they have different songs for the same incident in their lives because each matches the character’s voices. Micah tends to be more expressive and upfront about his emotions. Zana on the other hand keeps a lot things to herself.
Now, Peter doesn’t have any sad songs on his list at all. I’m baffled by this. Actually no I’m not. He’s a pretty happy guy most of the time (as long as he’s not stressed out). So…I guess to put a break in this sad fest, I’ll share his cheer up song.
#14: Old Friends
I wanted to use this song in my reel the other day of Peter and Roland…because it describes their friendship perfectly. It may not seem like it but…Roland is Francis. Gosh those two make me laugh sometimes.
#15: White Sparrows
This song is on Lawrence’s playlist. T’is a sorrowful ditty. A mournful tune. It’s…well yah. It’s sad.
#16: Under A Black Sky
This is from Wendy’s playlist (she’s Rose’s mother and Lawrence’s wife). I absolutely adored this song when the album came out and whenever I’d listen to it, I thought of her. I guess because of the contrast between the chorus and versus along with the lyrics.
#17: Confessions Of A Broken Heart
I think it’s kind of fun that I did these playlists for nearly all of my character’s in this series. Both the major and minor. This one is for Wendy’s aunt. I’ve always loved this song. It gives me chills.
#18: You Are My Sunshine
This song is from Caspian’s playlist. He’s in the pumpkin picture. It’s not exactly a sad song but it is…that is if you actually listen to all the words. This cover captures the feelings of it. The song is a favourite of my grandparents. They used to sing it when washing the dishes every night. Which was really sweet…
This version song kinda ruins that vibe for me but it definitely captures Caspian.
#19: Lifeboat
This song is on sweet little Julius’ playlist. It makes me a little sad that it’s on his but being little is tough sometimes. Don’t worry the rest of his list is happy. I swear!
#20: Hurts Like Hell
This song is from Theodore’s playlist. I haven’t drawn him yet…or ever actually, which is super weird! I like him though, he’s a good guy.
He’s Micah and Zana’s father.
The next set of songs are bonus songs from my MC’s playlist because these character’s have more than one. I’m skipping a handful of character’s because they don’t appear in book 1 and their songs are kind of spoilers.
Roland has a few on his list so I’ll pick 3 from his, Dianna’s and try to get 3 of Nicholas’. These songs are also from different periods in these character’s lives. For Roland and Dianna these are more of their teen years playlists.
Roland:
#1: I Am In Great Pain, Please Help Me
#2: The Grey
#3: Disappear
Nicholas:
#1: Little Pistol
This song is listed as a song representing Nicholas’ childhood. I think it might be one of the saddest he has, although there are a handful of them.
#2: Ein Liebeslied
#3: Hate Me
Nicholas and Roland both have this song on their lists under different categories.
Dianna:
#1: A Soulmate Who Wasn’t Meant to Be
#2: Break My Broken Heart
#3: Run
Well, I hope this list of song didn’t make you cry and instead introduced you to a new favourite song haha!
I believe I have another prompt for music. Yes the next music related one is Romantic Vibes. Yikes…that’s gonna be hard. I’ll try not to do any repeats. I notice that a lot of sad songs are also romantic.
I think I’ll do one final bonus song. I’ll pick from Roland’s list I think.
What’s your favourite song?
If you’re a writer, which song fits your character’s current mood?
Today’s task is to create a chill vibes playlist inspired by the characters in my novel. I’ve decided to pick 1 song per my main cast of characters. I’ll also do little introductory posts for each of them as well. I hope I pick songs that they’d enjoy haha!
Song #1: Dance With Me
This first song is for Dianna. I can picture her dancing and singing to it secretly when no one else is around haha.
Song #2: Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop
This song is really sweet. I have it on a playlist for either Lawrence or Wendy. It reminds me of how they met. Backstory stuff…but it really captures them well.
Song# 3: 4/4
This song makes me think of Roland. It just seems like something he’d start singing to himself while brushing his teeth or something.
Song #4: My Best Friend
This song reminds me of Nicholas. I already have it on one or two of his playlists.
Song#5: I Love My Boyfriend
This song is for Rose haha. If you watched my drawing reel on Instagram, you’ll hear another song by Princess Chelsea from the picture of Rose with her brother’s picking pumpkin.
Song# 6: Try to Change
This song is for Darius. He’s surprisingly got a lot of really chill songs on his playlist. I was shocked. I expected more chill vibes from some of my other character’s.
Song #7: Telling Lies
This songs on Kurtis’ playlist. It’s not exactly chill…but it’s not exactly not chill? I think this is the most chill Kurtis is gonna get haha.
I’ve been struggling to find a good song for Peter. His playlist has no chill. All party songs. If you’re having a party in the future, hit him up.
Song #8: Beautiful People Beautiful Problems
This song is on Eloise’s playlist.
I’m starting to realize that a lot of my character’s have no chill. They need to get whelmed and feel the aster (if you get that reference, you’re now one of my favourite people!).
What song’s do you like to listen to when you’re just hanging out?
For the month of October I wanted to start introducing my character’s. So on my instagram since it’s #drawtober I’ve decided that for 31 days I’ll be drawing my characters using a variety of prompts. Yesterday’s drawing wasn’t one that I really thought through. I ended up drawing something completely different that I’d initially planned, however going forward I’ll be sticking to my schedule.
I’ll also be doing a blog prompt OC-tober as well! You’re welcome to participate. I’d love to check your your posts, so be sure to leave links to them in the comments for me!
I’m very excited about this and I’m looking forward to taking a bit of time each day to do something creative.
Anyway, here are my prompts! The first list is for drawing and the second is for blogging (or vlogging, whichever your prefer).
My new cover is up on YouTube and is also available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and more!
I had a lot of fun singing and playing this song. It was a song I used to sing all the time as a little girl. It really resonated with me back then. I’d love to cover more songs that remind me of my awkward preteen-teenage years haha.
Ardin Patterson 